Security · Horn of Africa · Sudan–Ethiopia
Sudan and Ethiopia shut each other’s border consulates as fears of a wider Horn war grow
Ethiopia ordered six Sudanese consular staff out of Asosa; Sudan answered by closing Ethiopia’s consulate in Gadarif. Both capitals deny backing each other’s enemies.
ADDIS ABABA — Sudan and Ethiopia traded consulate closures on Wednesday, the sharpest diplomatic step yet in a dispute that regional officials fear could pull two separate wars into one. Ethiopia ordered six staff of Sudan’s consulate in the western border town of Asosa to leave within 48 hours, a senior Ethiopian official told Reuters. Hours later, Sudan shut Ethiopia’s consulate in the eastern city of Gadarif and declared its diplomats persona non grata, according to Sudanese officials quoted by Reuters and AFP, as Al Jazeera reported.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, and neither side gave a formal reason for the Ethiopian move. The Associated Press reported, citing an Ethiopian intelligence official, that Sudan’s ambassador was summoned on Sunday to be told of the consulate’s closure, and a Sudanese official said the staff left on Tuesday evening.
Accusations on both sides
The expulsions came after Sudan complained to the UN Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council on Sunday, accusing Ethiopia of letting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) use its territory to launch deadly drone attacks on civilian infrastructure. AB24 has previously reported Sudan’s claim of 162 such attacks. Ethiopia denies supporting the RSF. For its part, Ethiopia accuses Sudan of backing rebels in its northern Tigray region, which Khartoum also denies.
Sudan’s Sovereign Council adviser Amjad Farid said the government was making “every possible effort to avoid an open war with Ethiopia,” while keeping its right to defend its territory, according to Al Jazeera. A direct clash would stretch a Sudanese army already fighting the RSF in the south-east. On Sunday, drone strikes hit electricity substations in the northern towns of al-Dabba and Abu Hamad and cut power; the government and the group Emergency Lawyers blamed the RSF.
The move follows other diplomatic breaks by Addis Ababa. On 1 October it expelled 10 Eritrean diplomats and closed its embassy in Asmara, and Eritrea then severed ties. Ethiopia also expelled an Egyptian diplomat last month. It has accused Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea of supporting the Tigrayan fighters who launched an offensive in September.
AB24’s reading from Addis Ababa: consulates in border towns are the working channels for refugees, trade and security contacts, so closing them removes a way to calm incidents just as tensions are rising. Watch for the UN Security Council’s response to Sudan’s complaint, any AU mediation offer, and whether either side moves on border crossings.
Sources: Al Jazeera, citing Reuters, AFP and AP, 4 Nov 2026.
— AB24 · Addis Ababa